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As the National Equality March in Washington D.C. grabbed headlines this past week, students at campuses across the country also held events celebrating National Coming Out Day. 

New Mexico State University had representatives from the Sexual Gender Diversity Resource Center (SGDRC) and other campus organizations set up tables to share information about safe places for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gendered students to seek information about certain addictions and diseases LGBT students are more susceptible to.
 
“It’s a place for people to come and be themselves,” said SGDRC coordinator Sharna Horn about the center.

At the University of Washington students gathered and marched to the local courthouse, in support of Referendum 71, a policy which will protect basic rights for domestic partners registered in Washington.

Local members of the LGBT community displayed their support for Washington D.C.’s National Equality March as well as Referendum 71, by organizing a demonstration in Seattle that culminated at a federal courthouse.

“It’s significant because it’s a distinct symbol of how the LGBT community spans not just Seattle, but the nation as a whole,” said UW sophomore Mimi Donnelly. “It shows the strength of the community.”

Students also played a large role in the DC march.  “We’re part of a movement that’s been going on for a long time but that most students haven’t had a chance to be part of,” said the march’s National Student Outreach Coordinator David Valk, reported Jennifer Epstein in “Inside Higher Ed.” “They’re experiencing that feeling of getting in the streets and protesting … all of these kids here are going to go back home, back to their colleges and take action.”

Several dozen student leaders converged after the march for a workshop on how to effectively organize students when they got back to campus.

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